


His Butler, Under Lockdown (#StayHome #BeKind)

by British_Racing_Green



Series: Weston College in the 21st Century (Series) [3]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anime/Manga Fusion, Anime/Video Game Fusion, Background Relationships, Brothers, Ciel Phantomhive Has a Twin, Family, Family Dinners, Friendship, Gen, Inspired by Real Events, Kindness, Manga & Anime, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Modern Era, References to Depression, Sherlock Holmes References, Spoilers, Teenagers, Weston School Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:01:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23718622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/British_Racing_Green/pseuds/British_Racing_Green
Summary: Written to ease my and hopefully your anxiety during these difficult times.The Phantomhive manor is currently under lockdown. They seem to be doing better than another manor in London...(Contains potential manga spoilers).
Relationships: Ciel Phantomhive & Alois Trancy, Ciel Phantomhive & Phantomhive Servants, Ciel Phantomhive & Real Ciel Phantomhive, Real Ciel Phantomhive & Alois Trancy
Series: Weston College in the 21st Century (Series) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992064
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	His Butler, Under Lockdown (#StayHome #BeKind)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the rights to 'Black Butler' or anything else I may happen to mention.  
> FYI: 'Earl Phantomhive' or 'the earl' is O!Ciel, 'Ciel' is R!Ciel.

“…fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.” Sebastian counted as he, Finny, Bard, Mey-Rin and Snake all washed their hands with soap after preparing dinner for themselves and their master upstairs.  
  
“Now we rinse.” The butler ordered and everyone did so under the running tape.  
  
“And finally, we dry.” He said and the servants all dried their hands on their own towels.  
  
“Now, once again…” Sebastian continued, “…you must all be very polite and courteous when dining with the young master, and remember to keep a safe distance away from him at all times in the dining room. I don’t want this virus getting anywhere near him.”  
  
“Yes sir! (says Oscar).” the four servants saluted.  
  
Sebastian smiled, but it hid a grave annoyance.  
  
‘ _If this virus gets into my asthma-prone dinner and spoils it I will rain hellfire down on this world._ ’  
  
“Alright everyone. Gloves on and off we go.” Sebastian said with a clap of his hands and the five of them gloved up before pushing the trolleys that contained tonight’s dinner for the whole household from the Phantomhive manor’s kitchen to its dining room.  
  
Even _before_ England went on lockdown in order to prevent the spread of the virus that had brought the world to a stop, the young Earl of Phantomhive had actually shown a remarkably humane side of his character.  
  
He had listened to Sebastian’s advice about postponing all his engagements on behalf of the queen (which Her Majesty had no problem with), had closed the Funtom Company shop in London a week before all non-essential shops were ordered to shut and was paying his employees their _full_ wage thorough this period, and had allowed his servants to dine with him at dinner time.  
  
Since the lockdown had been introduced, Sebastian had locked the main gate of the estate and made sure he was the only one who left the grounds to go shopping for essential supplies. They were harder to come by right now, which is why he was so relieved there was livestock on the estate too. Running out of food was not going to be a concern.  
  
What _was_ a concern (no, an annoyance actually) was that the very same night the lockdown was established, the Earl and his five servants weren’t the only people in the manor.  
  
“Ah, there you all are. Right on time I see.” Tanaka said as he looked at his pocket watch from his guard-like position outside the dining room door.  
  
“Five-minutes-to-seven exactly.” He smiled. None of the other servants did.  
  
_“He’s_ in there as well isn’t he?” an irritated Finny moaned. The prospect of sitting at the same table as his least favourite person in the world during dinner (again) was making him think bad thoughts.  
  
“He will be every evening until the lockdown is over. Now live with it Finnian.” Tanaka scolded, much to the shock of the other servants, even Sebastian.  
  
Tanaka opened the door and the servants pushed the trolleys into the dining room.  
  
And there they were, Earl Phantomhive and Ciel Phantomhive.  
  
The Earl sat at the head of the table like he always did, and the servants’ places were down the bottom end. Sebastian’s was at the foot (directly opposite his master), Bard would sit on Sebastian’s left, Mey-Rin on his right, Finny next to Mey-Rin, and Snake next to Bard. Tanaka refused the offer to eat with the others, and instead felt duty bound to wait on Ciel, _his_ master, who sat almost too close to his younger twin brother’s right.  
  
“Good evening everyone. What’s for dinner tonight then?” The Earl asked with the best smile his brother’s presence next to him would allow.  
  
“Tinned sardines on buttered toast for starters, followed by supermarket steak and ale pie with mashed potato, and a banana split for dessert. To drink we have a choice of still or sparkling water.”  
  
“Just what I needed./I suppose that will do.” The twins said in unison.  
  
“Oh for _Christ_ sake brother mine we are _cutting back!_ I gave away lots of my normal supplies to the food banks.” The Earl groaned as Ciel remained totally unimpressed by the night’s menu.  
  
But Ciel did concede one thing.  
  
“At least it isn’t fish and chips drowning in vinegar.” He smiled.  
  
“Don’t remind me.” The earl shook his head as Sebastian and Tanaka placed their masters’ dinners in front of them while the other servants took their places.  
  
“Thank you everyone.” The Earl smiled. “Tuck in.”  
  
With that everyone began eating, though the servants remained quiet, still remembering to speak only when spoken to. The earl hated that they did that, but truth be told they were too mindful of his brother.  
  
The twins discussed how they would go about reopening their respective companies when the lockdown and restrictions were lifted. The earl’s Funtom Company shop in London was already well established, but Ciel’s phone company, CielPhones, was still struggling to break into the public’s consciousness, and his as of yet unnamed railway company was still being set up.  
  
Sebastian and the others listened intently, but the whole room was disturbed by the sound of the butler’s phone ringing from within his breast pocket.  
  
“Please do excuse me everyone. This phone ringing _must_ mean it’s an emergency.” Sebastian apologised and wiped his mouth clean with a napkin, but his master smiled and waved the apology way.  
  
“Never mind that Sebastian, but you know the rule: speaker phone so we can all hear it.”  
  
Sebastian sighed. _Very_ few people had this number. And he was pretty confident he knew who was calling him. Indeed when he looked at the screen and saw who it was, he knew _exactly_ what this conversation was going to be about.  
  
“Hello Claude. What’s the matter _now?”_  
  
A loud groan emanated from the phone’s speaker and echoed around the room.  
  
“Michaelis _please_ help me. His Highness is becoming _insufferable.”_  
  
“You mean _even more so than usual_?” Sebastian smirked and winked at his master who smirked too.  
  
_“Exponentially.”_ Claude sighed. “He is awake playing games until four in the morning and won’t rise until gone midday. He won’t wear _anything_ other than his underwear during daylight hours and constantly cries about ‘ _not being allowed out to play with the twins_ ’ or that German girlfriend of his.”  
  
“Arrrr. He misses us brother mine.” Ciel smiled but faked his concern while the earl rolled his eye.  
  
“What about his brother?” Sebastian asked.  
  
“Luka is staying with _his_ ‘girlfriend’ in Brighton because he was visiting her when the lockdown was announced.” Claude answered, but through the phone too came the sound of Alois shouting the lyrics to a _very_ dirty song.  
  
“ _~_ _Aboard the good ship Venus! By Christ you should have seen us! A figurehead of a whore in red sucking a dead man’s-~_ ”  
  
“ _NO_! _NO_!” Claude shouted before the song could go any further. “I’ve heard that song 53 times already this lockdown. I’m well aware of what she and the crew are doing.”  
  
The servants next to Sebastian all giggled at their free dinner time entertainment, and their master was even cracking a smile as he beckoned Sebastian’s attention with a wave of his hand.  
  
“Give me your phone Sebastian. I’ll talk to Alois and calm him down.”  
  
“Are you _sure_ you want to do that?” Ciel asked his brother, who ignored him and watched as Sebastian got up and made his way over to the earl.  
  
“My master wishes to talk to yours Claude. And for future reference if you must grizzle, please don’t ring us during dinner."  
  
With that Sebastian rose and headed to his master before handing the phone over to Earl Phantomhive and waited by his side.  
  
“Alois?” the earl spoke into the phone.  
  
“Yay!!! Which one are you? Sherlock or Mycroft?” Alois cheered back.  
  
“Surely you can work that out Moriarty?”  
  
“Hi not-actually-Ciel. How are you?”  
  
‘Not-actually-Ciel’ sneered at the phone and his brother failed to cover his mouth in time to stop himself laughing.  
  
“And _that_ must be the _real_ Ciel! Hi!” Alois cheered again.  
  
“Trancy you insufferable mental how are you?” Ciel asked as his brother held the phone in between the pair of them.  
  
They were expecting a long ramble about Alois’ ‘adventures’ in his manor. But what they actually got was a heavy sigh, followed by…  
  
“I’m really missing you guys. Even when we’re fighting or arguing I cherish those moments because you’re the only guys my own age who have any sort of understanding about me. I’m so lonely here right now. The triplets are boring and Claude and Hannah won’t play with me like they do with Luka, and Luka isn’t here he’s with Stella, and I don’t know if he’s sick or not, and none of the guys from school are here, and Claude and Hannah just want me out of the way so they can shag, and we can’t play games, or listen to music together, or go and get something to eat, and I can’t see Sieglinde in person, and I can’t hug her, and I can’t kiss her, and she can’t be here to make me feel better because…because…becau…”  
  
Alois began crying loudly down the phone. Right now he was all alone on his manor’s grand staircase in just his black underwear. His servants were nowhere to be seen and he was nowhere near any of his friends, his brother or the girl he loved. He was all alone again.  
  
“Hey hey hey, shh shh shh.” Earl Phantomhive tried to reassure Alois through the phone. “You’re not alone. We’re all still here.”  
  
“We miss you too mate.” Ciel added. “We want to play at your manor again too, but you know, we have to stay put for now. But this won’t last forever.”  
  
“Mycroft is right. We’ll all be together soon.” The earl smiled.  
  
“Y-you promise?” Alois asked as his wiped his eyes and nose clean with his arm.  
  
“Absolutely. We’ll get everyone back together and we’ll have a Ghost-themed party all night long. How does that sound?”  
  
Alois immediately perked up at the prospect of that _kind_ of party.  
  
“Can we all mosh to Zombie Queen?” He asked as if he was actually asking for an ice cream.  
  
“I insist.” The earl declared which earned a double fist pump from his brother and looks of excitement from _all_ of his servants, even Sebastian.  
  
“Thanks Sherlock. I’ve got something to look forward to now.” Alois said and hugged himself. He was at ease again.  
  
Earl Phantomhive leant forward to the phone.  
  
“Glad to hear you’re happy again. How about you let us finish our dinner, and we’ll join you in an online multiplayer for the night?”  
  
Alois’ excited laughter burst from the phone.  
  
“Okay that sounds like a decent plan for this evening.” Ciel agreed. “Now how’s about you go and have a wank while we finish our dinner and we’ll join you at nine?” he suggested whilst making everyone else grimace.  
  
“I’ve already had three today but I think I can go again.” Alois said with no shame which made the earl hold Sebastian’s phone as far away from himself as he could. It was contaminated now.  
  
“Bye bye Alois. We’ll be on at nine.” The earl sighed as he hovered his thumb over the red hang-up button.  
  
“See you.” Ciel waved to the phone.  
  
“Bye twins.” Alois sang as the earl ended the call and handed Sebastian his phone back.  
  
Earl Phantomhive sunk into deep thought as Sebastian returned to his own chair.  
  
“Is everything alright young master?” he asked.  
  
The earl sighed, resigned to what he was about to say.  
  
“As annoying as he is, I genuinely miss Alois at the moment. And I feel terribly sorry for him too because he has nobody around at the moment to keep him occupied and entertained and happy.”  
  
“Sounds to me like he doesn’t have that problem.” Ciel muttered.  
  
“I mean _apart_ from that brother mine. He’s very fragile and I worry that he might do something daft without us around.”  
  
“If I know Claude and Hannah, and I regret to say I do, they won’t let anything bad happen to him. Either by his own hand or otherwise. I’m also pretty sure he’s keeping in contact with his brother.” Sebastian reassured.  
  
“Alois does tend to exaggerate when he’s feeling anxious.” The earl agreed.  
  
Everyone around the table nodded, and without anything further to add the household returned to their dinner.  
  
**Epilogue**  
  
Alois was the last to log into the game server. He looked at the names in the lobby and almost burst into tears.  
  


  * _EarlPhantomhive1875_
  * _TheRealDeal1875_
  * _EdwardTheGreenLion_
  * _TheWiseSapphireOwl_
  * _PurpleBanksyBoi_
  * _CurryBun_
  * _BlondeBombshell_
  * _StJoanne_
  * _SmolBlueMiracle_
  * _EmeraldWitch_
  * _LizzyTwoSwords_
  * _SouthCoastGhost_
  * _DemonsDinner_
  * _TheEarlOfBootyShorts_



  
Alois put his headphones on and heard a message from EarlPhantomhive1875.  
  
“We’re all here for you Alois.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this. Please comment if you did.
> 
> References:  
> Fish and Chips with vinegar is Alois' favourite meal.  
> In Chapter 151 R!Ciel states he "would have probably invested in railroads or communications."  
> I ship Luka with Stella Rose from the 'Black Butler: Phantom & Ghost' game.  
> Google the lyrics to 'Good Ship Venus' if you dare. They're very NSFW.  
> Earl Phantomhive, Ciel Phantomhive and Alois occasionally respectively refer to themselves as Sherlock, Mycroft and Moriarty for fun.  
> I ship Claude/Hannah and Alois/Sieglinde.  
> The music of Swedish band Ghost fits Black Butler really well.  
> Sebastian is eating purely for appearance sake and to show the other servants (minus Tanaka) he's on their side.


End file.
